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The Johnson & Johnson/Wharton Fellows Program in Management for Nurse Executives has enrolled its 1,000th participant as the nursing management program celebrates its 25th anniversary. During the recent alumni reunion, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced plans to fund a full scholarship to the program for a nurse executive from Africa.

The fellows program reunion becomes a reference point, and a source of further inspiration

PHILADELPHIA (PRWEB)March 19, 2008

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania partners with Johnson & Johnson on the annual three-week nurse executive education program, which provides essential management and finance knowledge for chief nursing officers.

"Over the past 25 years, the Wharton Fellows Program has drawn nursing executives from many different places, fostering robust dialogue and diverse viewpoints," says Sharon D'Agostino, vice president, worldwide contributions and community relations at Johnson & Johnson. "With this scholarship, we're looking forward to extending the reach of this program to a nurse in Africa, furthering our commitment to building the skills of people who serve community health needs around the world." The $10,000 scholarship honors the memory of Lois Ginsburg, the long-time administrative head of the program, and funds all expenses. The company also funds tuition costs and some meal expenses for the 40 nurse executives who attend the program annually.

At the recent two-and-a-half-day Advanced Management Education Conference, a biannual reunion event for nurse management program alumni, attendees celebrated the program's 25th year with the theme, "Charting Your Legacy as a Leader." The theme was "in the spirit of further developing these senior nurse leaders," says Gregory P. Shea, PhD, academic director.

Speakers included Doris Kearns Goodwin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian and best-selling author, and Nancy Barry, long-time CEO of the Women's World Bank, a pioneering microfinance organization, and founder of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty.

The legacy theme helped provide attendees with a perspective "on where we came from, where we are now, and where we are going," says Richard J. Gannotta, a former chief nursing officer and now chief operating officer of Duke Raleigh Hospital in North Carolina. "The fellows program reunion becomes a reference point, and a source of further inspiration," he added. The recent reunion program offered unique, interactive sessions with professional artists -- a painter, a sculptor, and writers, including Kelley White, MD, a nationally acclaimed poet and practicing physician. Exploring creativity this way fuels thinking outside the box, Gannotta explains. "It stimulates the right side of the brain. And that approach stays true to Wharton's reputation for cutting-edge and innovative practices."

More generally, the nurse management fellows program helps nurse executives "to continue developing their strategic voice, and their capacity to be a key leader on the executive team," Shea says. It also furnishes skills for managing complex systems, Gannotta adds. "It exposed me to the best minds and the brightest thinking on management, organizational development, and leadership techniques. After attending the fellows program, I went on to achieve a number of professional accomplishments, which added significant value to the hospital's culture, clinical operations, and bottom line."

Catherine Hughes, vice president for Patient Care at Virtua Health in Berlin, N.J., says the knowledge gleaned from the program proved critical in helping Virtua's Chief Nurse Executive team, all Wharton Fellows, to make the business case for additional training resources to implement an electronic medical record system. "It allowed us to speak the language of business to each other and understand what we mean. Now we use that language every day," Hughes says. The nurse executives "have a new level of clarity as executive leaders. They are better able to relate the complexities of finance to the quality of outcomes."

The next Johnson & Johnson/Wharton Fellows Program in Management for Nurse Executives program is scheduled for June 1-20.

Executive Education at the Wharton School

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania -- founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school -- is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The School has more than 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 10,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 82,000 graduates.

Informed by in-depth, groundbreaking academic research and extensive industry experience, Wharton Executive Education programs can span anywhere from a few days to six weeks or longer. Each executive education program offers a supportive and challenging context where participants gain the skills necessary for their next level of executive development. Participants who come to Wharton from a diverse range of industries engage with faculty who are the most cited, most published faculty of all top-tier business schools. With a profound influence upon global business, Wharton faculty are the sought-after, trusted advisors of corporations and governments worldwide.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is the world's most comprehensive and broadly based manufacturer of health care products, as well as a provider of related services, for the consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices and diagnostics markets. The more than 250 Johnson & Johnson operating companies employ approximately 119,000 men and women in 57 countries and sell products throughout the world.